


Map My Face Out (Line By Line)

by Emyblossom93



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DCU, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Paranormal AU, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Telekinesis, Vampires, Werewolves, and a bunch of other supernatural stuff, and canadian shows hmmm, definite slow burn, i'll add more tags as the story grows, ohmy!, rating might increase, super powers, supernatural / arrow / lost girl, tbh i've just been watching too much paranormal//supernatural things halp, this is what happens when i watch too many paranormal shows
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-22
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-14 12:37:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3410915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emyblossom93/pseuds/Emyblossom93
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life for Felicity had always been relatively normal - or, a normal a life could get when your father walks out of your life at a young age, you have an extreme love for hacking and computers; and oh ... yeah, you have the power to move thing with your mind. Despite her little ... quirks, Felicity's life had been mundane. That is until she attracts the attention of a mystery man with a (unhealthy?) taste for green leather and pointy objects. And, of course, Felicity has always hated mysteries.</p><p>From there she finds herself trading in wires and hard-drives for vampires, ghosts, and werewolves (oh my!) And all to try and solve the biggest mystery she's come across so far: Just what is she, exactly?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Life isn't a Roald Dahl Story

**Author's Note:**

> ((Story Title from the song: I'm Yours by The Script))
> 
> disclaimer: I do not own Arrow, Flash, DC, or any related characters. Merely doing this for my own fun.\
> 
> Alright, trying my hand at a lengthier story. I'm trying to go for more of a Lost Girl / True Blood / Supernatural feel in terms of the variety of supernatural characters. 
> 
> To be honest, I have an idea of where I want this story to go - but that's about it. How I'm gonna get there is a mystery. IF you have any comments/suggestions I'm open to them so long as it doesn't interfere with the overall story I have in mind. :) I already have a basic idea for what character is what kind of supernatural character (hint, there will be: vampires, ghosts, werewolves, succubi, fairies, brownies, kitsunes, and (shocker) some humans thrown into the mix.)

Growing up, Felicity had always been different than her peers. She had always been both smart and shy and these two traits had only increased after her father left her and her mother high and dry when she was seven. Unfortunately for Felicity’s social life, neither one of those traits were conducive to making friends.

When she’d managed to skip a couple grades (sixth and then eighth), the separation between herself and others in her class only grew larger. None of the other kids wanted to interact with the girl who was in high school before even hitting puberty. Life got easier as she grew older and learned how to interact with others better. Learned how to tuck away the little part of herself that wasn't appropriate for social interactions (at least if the interactions took place outside of a computer lab.)

There was one part of her, however, that Felicity could never really get rid of. When she’d been in her tenth grade year, a few months after her fourteenth birthday, Felicity had discovered a new-found ability that was straight from a sci-fi novel.

She’d been building her latest computer, the parts scattered across her room, when she’d realized she needed a wire that was all the way across the room on her bookshelf. She remembered being frustrated and wishing the damned cable would just come to her. And then it did.

She’d been too shocked by the cable that had come flying across the room to react to anything. It wasn't until the cable had smacked her across the face that Felicity had come out of her stupor and screamed. Partially because _ow_ that hurt and the other part because what the hell was that? The cable lay in her lap, draped across her thigh as if someone had just dropped it there. And, someone had - only that someone was her. Which, of course, was impossible because this was real life, not a Roald Dahl novel.

It had taken a steady breath and small self-talk (“C’mon Smoak, what’s the worse that could happen? Try it one more time - don’t be a chicken.”) before Felicity was able to convince herself to try and duplicate what had just happened. She’d focused back on the bookshelf, at the row of hardbacks that lined the shelf and focused on Moby Dick (the irony not lost on her). It had taken a bit of concentration and, for a moment, she’d thought it wasn’t going to work - that everything had just been the product of too much sci-fi and an overactive imagination; but then, the book had wiggled in it’s little spot before shooting across the room at her. This time, she managed to catch it before it smacked her in the face like the cable.

After that, she’d stayed up for hours, practicing making things fly across the room - trying to refine the ability so that she could control how fast, how far, how long. And she found that the more she practiced, the more comfortable she was, the easier it was to control until, into the early hours of the next day it felt like second nature - as easy as breathing and like she’d been doing it for just as long.

That next day, Felicity had been equal parts excited and exhausted and had taken her first sick day off of school.


	2. ... Sometimes it's a Stephen King Novel

She’d never told anybody about her power - not her mother, or the few friends she’d managed to make as she got older, or even Cooper, the ill-fated boyfriend that she’d always thought was _the one_. Apart from worrying about their reactions, it had always seemed like something private - to be kept from the public eye. Although, Felicity would still use her abilities on an everyday basis (from getting ready in the morning to sliding tricky-to-reach motherboard wires into their spots and even a few times when she was at the grocery store and couldn’t quite reach that item on the top shelf.)

After college, many companies had expressed interests in her, but she had ultimately decided on Queen Consolidated. It was a company with a blossoming tech division that would allow her to be in the same timezone as her mother while still maintaining a fair amount of distance from her. She’d learned it was better to love her (over-doting) mother from a distance. Plus, QC was in California (at least the building she was going to be working in) which meant a fresh start - something that was reinforced by her new blonde hair (her mother had loved that) and brand new wardrobe (her mother had loved that even more).

Her first day at her new job had left an excitement buzzing in her bones. She'd met her department manager (a balding man with an uncanny resemblance to Mark Gatiss) and they seemed to get on well enough. He was glad there was someone else to delegate menial tasks to and she was glad he didn't try to question her technical know-how.

No, that was reserved for some of the older employees to gab about around the water cooler. For the most part, Felicity could ignore the whispers about how qualified she really was (she was too blonde, too young, too colorful, too quiet) and how she never wanted to mingle with the others. But, occasionally she'd hear something that put her over the edge (what do you think she's really doing when she goes up to the executive offices? with skirts that short it can only be one thing) and it would just make her skin crawl. Those times, she'd find her hand clenching into a fist while whoever was on the receiving end of her ire would find their cup suddenly breaking or tie getting a little too tight or computer overheating. While she knew she probably shouldn't use her power that way, Felicity couldn't deny that it felt _good_. Like she was finally taking control of her life. Sometimes it scared her how good it felt.

Luckily, she never heard anything like that from her department head. Her first day, he'd just shown her to her little cubicle, empty except for a standard issue computer and office phone, and ran her through a quick tutorial of how things would run and what forms she would need to make sure she filed for every case she worked. It was nothing truly challenging and he’d assured her that most of the calls she would receive would be simple “did you try turning it off and then on again” scenarios. After handing her a small file complete with FAQs, office handbook, and her official company ID. ( _Felicity Smoak - No. 010358428 - IT Dept_.) She’d had fifteen minutes to get settled in before she received her first official call and then from then until the rest of the day she was spent taking service calls.

Months passed like this and Felicity found herself enjoying the simple rhythm her life had taken. While most might feel bored with the monotony, Felicity was happy to finally be doing what she loved - helping people and working with technology. Don't get her wrong, she couldn't wait until she was able to make her way up the corporate food chain. But, for now, she was content being able to lead a somewhat normal life.

Normal had never been a word she could use to describe her life and it was nice being able to, for once. For the first time since before her dad walked out, Felicity was actually happy. Unfortunately, life had never been one to let her stay that way for long.

**\---**

It all started when Felicity decided to work late one day. She'd been working on developing some new code for R&D - she wasn't sure what exactly it was for, but she did know it was some sort of database that needed high level encryption and firewalls. It was almost finished and Felicity was eager to see it done so that she could finally move on to the other projects that had been piling up on her desk.

It was almost eight o'clock, the sun long gone, when she finally decided to call it a night. The code was mostly done and just needed a bit of debugging before she could turn it in. And normally, she would've waited and done that tonight but she was really craving Chinese and her favorite place closed at nine.

The IT department was on the fifth floor of the tall building. Felicity wasn't exactly a health junkie, but she would try to at least use the stairs a few times out of the week. Now was not one of those times. She was too tired to make the journey and frankly the stairwells always gave her the creeps when she was in them alone.

She was walking down the hallway when she heard the noise for the first time - a loud screeching sound that resembled claws on a chalkboard. It sent a tightness up her body and for a moment she froze, tight as a coil, and listened for it again. There was a moment of near silence - the air conditioner buzzing lightly in the background, a ringing in her ears - and then the noise came again, only this time with an animalistic whine following it and a dull thud finishing it off.

The thud came from somewhere above and behind her - coming from the south side of the floor above her and it was enough to cause her to jumpstart into motion. She booked it to the north stairs, gripping her keys tightly in her hand, and slammed into the little stairwell, making her way down as fast as she could manage in her heels.

When she'd managed to make it to the third floor, she heard a door above her open and then slam shut. Without thinking, she slammed through the door into the third floor. The third floor was an open layout and used as somewhat of a commons area - it was where most of the employees spent their lunch hour. Now, the normally bright and airy room was a dark obstacle course of chairs and tables.

She'd managed to make it halfway across the room, almost to the second staircase, when she heard the door open behind her. Felicity froze for a moment - her fight or flight instincts warring within her. There was no way she could win in a fight with whoever (or whatever) was there. However, she could probably use her powers take them out before they ever reached her - although her telekinesis wasn't exactly battle tested.

Breathing in, Felicity finally glanced over her shoulder. She saw the large figure of a man, clad head to toe in green leather. He had a bow gripped tightly in his left hand - a bow that had more than earned him his nickname: the Green Arrow.

Well, shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there you have it folks. Chapter 2 with a (brief) appearance of our favorite green-leather-wearing-superhero. :)
> 
> I think I'll update this once a week (on Sundays) and most of the chapters will be about this length (maybe a little longer.)


	3. I'm Nancy Drew - Hacker Extraordinaire

The Green Arrow had been a bit of a legend for years now - long since before she'd ever set foot in Starling City. In fact, this vigilante had been around for so long people had theories about it being some sort of organization (like the Freemasons or Knights Templar) that passed the hood down as a sort of rite of passage. Of course, nothing had ever been proven and a lot of the world just sort of wrote the vigilante off as a myth or legend.

And, of course, the mythos didn't very much matter when the man was very much right in front of her. She wasn't sure what she'd done to warrant any sort of attack from the hooded man - the stories usually involved him going after scum and corrupt one-percenters. She liked to think she was neither.

Not that that mattered when she currently had an arrow pointed at her chest. Freezing for a moment, she lifted her hands up in the air in the 'don't shoot' position, "Please don't arrow me."

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to appease the man as his grip tightened and he let out a low growl, "What are you?"

That, of course, completely through her off, "Uhmm, human? I.T. guru? Totally innocent of any arrowing."

She slid back a step but froze again when he growled out, "Do not move. I will not hesitate to shoot you. Now answer again: what are you?"

"Nothing," Felicity shook her head.

"Wrong answer," and the man released an arrow towards her that would have probably hit in some very unpleasant area if it hadn't been for her telekinesis sending it off course somewhere to her left. Because apparently her power didn't require her concentration when she was in a life or death situation - okay then.

Seeing him gear up to shoot another arrow at her, Felicity decided to use her power more actively this time. Only instead of sending the arrows off course, she decided to fling a couple of the tables at him, forcing him to duck back towards the first staircase. She used the temporary distraction to rush towards the staircase, sending a few more tables flying in order to keep him from being able to get a clear shot at her - she wasn't sure how well her power would keep up and she didn't particularly want to test it at the moment.

Slamming into the stairwell, she locked the door back behind her - an ability she'd discovered after a few times of locking herself out of her house. She'd managed to make it all the way to the main floor, where there should be security guards, when he finally managed to bust through the door.

She half expected him to follow her through the door into the lobby, but apparently the extra people was enough of a deterrent to keep from following her. Still, Felicity didn't stop running until she was up against the front desk, out of breath and wheezing.

"There was someone chasing me in the stairwell," she managed to wheeze out, "He tried to attack me."

The guard was an older man, probably twice her age, and looked startled to see her. It took him a moment before he was able to properly respond, "Alright. Just stay right here, I'll go check it out."

"Be careful. He has a weapon," Felicity was reluctant to tell the man that that weapon was a bow-and-arrow. She wanted him to take her seriously, "He chased me across the third floor. There's probably some tables flipped over up there."

The man nodded, "Just stay at the desk with the other guard. I'll be down in a few minutes."

Felicity nodded and took a swig from the bottle of water that the other guard set on the desk for her. The few minutes it took the guard to look around dragged on and on for Felicity - constantly on edge and worrying if she'd sent the poor man off to his death. She was just about to insist the other guards call the actual police when the man finally came out of the stairwell.

"Well, there's no one there as far as I could see. And no sign of disturbances either," He made his way over to her, "You're sure this isn't just some practical joke?"

Felicity shook her head. She didn't know anyone well enough for them to want to play a practical joke on her, "Someone was chasing me."

"Well they're gone now," the guard leaned against the counter in front of her, "Probably someone who thought it'd be fun to scare a girl. If you want I can walk you out to your car."

"Yeah," Felicity nodded, "That'll be good."

**- -**

The whole ride home, Felicity felt as if someone was watching her. But, every time she glanced out her window there was no one else around - in cars or by foot. Regardless, the hairs on her neck stayed standing straight up.

When she arrived home, Felicity was able to snag a spot closer to her door than usual and she thanked her lucky stars. She wasn't sure how well she'd be able to handle walking along the deserted sidewalk while the paranoid feeling still lingered.

It wasn't until hours later, when she was curled up on her Full with her laptop in front of her, that the creepy feeling finally started to subside. She'd gone through her house, making sure all the doors and windows were shut tight and locked. And then, had gone around one more time to make doubly sure because, even if the guards didn't believe her, Felicity knew for a fact that there had been someone in Queen Consolidated with her - a green leather wearing someone.

Which all brought Felicity to where she was now - hacking into Queen Consolidated's security system in order to go through and look at the footage the security cameras had caught. She figured even if the man had had time to clean up the mess she'd made with her powers (the fact that there was now someone who knew about her powers was a scary thought in and of itself) that there was no way he'd been able to delete the video footage. The encryption around it meant that not just anyone could hack into it - and the only ones with the codes to properly log into it were the higher ups who had probably never actually used the codes.

So, logically the video footage of her encounter should still be there. If only anything about that day was logical. When she was able to make her way into the footage, it was only to discover that it had been tampered with - the footage all cloned so that it looked like the third floor had been vacant the whole night and that she'd walked straight past the camera into the stairwell early that evening. Someone had tampered with the video footage.

Someone skilled. Just not as skilled as Felicity. She'd managed to track down when the footage had been cloned - about ten minutes after she'd left the building, and where it had been cloned from - a building in the glades that was home to one of the oldest and most popular clubs in the city - Verdant.

Verdant had been a pub decades ago and had been known for its abundance of alcohol during the prohibition years. Nowadays, it was still known for a good time - only without so many illegal going-ons (it was a well confirmed rumor that the owners of the clubs held no patience for any illegal drugs on the premise - something that had gotten a multitude of people into trouble over the years.)

Figuring out the source of the hack only brought up more questions: Why would someone at a nightclub be hacking into Queen Consolidated security cameras? Both properties were owned by the Queen family, but other than that, they really didn't have anything in common. And the connection wasn't that surprising considering the fact that the Queens and Merlyns owned most of the city.

It was obviously connected with the Green Arrow since they were covering his tracks. Which meant he wasn't working alone.

Which meant the Green Arrow and Company had an in at Verdant, since they were using it as a base of operations. Although what a vigilante group and a night club had to do with one another was beyond her.

It was a mystery. And Felicity hated those things.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter down. (Even if it is a day late ... whoops.) 
> 
> Real life Oliver Queen - as in, not dressed in green and shooting at our favorite girl - will be making his first appearance soon so there's that to look forward to. :)
> 
> Next chapter's done and written and I'll be posting it up next Sunday. :) 
> 
> Feel free to leave kudos or comments and let me know what you think! I'm also posting this over onto ff.net under the same title if it's easier to follow it there for any of you.


	4. But I'm No James Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity goes undercover ... sort of.

The next day, Felicity spent the entire morning trying to figure out what to do. It wasn't a matter of whether or not she'd investigate any further -- she needed to in order to both sate her curiosity and to make sure her secret was safe. No, it was more a matter of how than should.

It was Friday, which meant that Verdant would be open and booming. She'd be able to sneak in, hack around, and get out without raising too much suspicion. The only drawback was that it would put her right in the middle of the proverbial lion's den.

There was also the problem of not having anyone to go with or anything to even wear. Slightly less important in the scheme of things, but still very important.

Felicity sighed and decided to look back over the finished encryption code one last time to try and clear her head, chewing on her red pen as she did so. Coding was the usual mechanism she turned to when she needed to clear her head and figure something out.

It was only a few minutes later when she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat, "Felicity Smoak?"

She looked up from the computer screen, pen still resting on her lip, and saw two men standing in the doorway. One had arm muscles the size of her head, clearly visible even beneath the tailored suit. He stood partially behind the other man, the one who'd called her name.

Not waiting for any confirmation, the man continued on, "Hello, I'm Oliver. I was sent to check on the encryption project you were assigned."

"Well, that's a first. Usually no one can be bothered to come down here and check me out. Not that you're, ya know, _checking_ me out - checking me out. You're just checking out my skills ... hacking skills. Not sex skills. I'm not propositioning you, I swear," Felicity took a deep breath and counted backwards in her head, "I am actually finished writing the code. Just looking it over one last time."

He nodded, a tight smile pulled across his face. He let out a breathy laugh before pulling a chair over and settling himself down. The second man remained standing behind him, arms still crossed and face still serious. Felicity felt the odd sensation of bad cop - good cop.  

Trying to do her best to ignore the two men, Felicity turned back to the code. That lasted a minute until, "So, Miss Smoak --"

"Felicity," She corrected, out of habit.

"Felicity," He corrected with a short nod, "How long have you been working here?"

"A few years," Felicity said, "I came here straight out of M.I.T."

He nodded, "Impressive. And far away. Do you have family here?"

"Uh, no?" Felicity said, beginning to transfer the file to an external hard drive, "Just a great job opportunity and good weather."

The computer let out a little _ding_ that let her know it was done transferring files. Ejecting the drive, she held it out to him, "Here it is. One high level encryption, hold the viruses." She chuckled slightly at her joke, pleased to see tall, dark, and muscles actually cracked a smile. Oliver, on the other hand, just raised an eyebrow at her, "Sorry. I'm a dork. Anyways, here's the code. Everything should work fine, but let them know if they have any problems they know where to find me."

"I will let them know," Oliver stood up and took the drive from her hand.

"Nice ring," Felicity said. It was dark gold and ornate, two crisscrossing patterns going up the sides to meet in the middle, where a red stone was set - transparent and glasslike.

"Thanks," he shoved both the hand and the drive into his pocket, "It's a family heirloom."

She nodded, "Sure thing. See you around."

Oliver turned to exit, but as he did so somehow managed to knock over a cup of pens that was sitting on the corner of her desk.

"Ah," Felicity called out as she tried to catch a few as they all tumbled to the ground.

She was already scooping them all up by the time Oliver apologized, "My apologies. I'm not usually that clumsy."

"Well, I am," Felicity chuckled, craning her neck and to lol at him, "Wow you're like, really tall. Especially from down here. I mean ... uh, don't worry about knocking these over. It's fine. I've got you ... it. This. The pens. I can pick up the pens."

That ramble, at least, got the man to smile. From behind Oliver, muscles did more than smile. He let loose a deep chuckle, nudging the other man with his arm, "I think everything's okay, Oliver. We should head out before you're late for that meeting."

Oliver nodded, heading towards the door, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Felicity."

She called out a breathy, "Yeah," but, they'd already left the little office.

**\---**

The rest of the day went by quickly after Oliver and his friend (bodyguard?) left her office. Now, it was a little after nine and she'd just made it into Verdant. She'd been in line for 20 minutes, the entire time arguing with herself about whether or not she should just go home. But, she finally made it to the front of the line where a bouncer took a quick glance at her ID before gesturing her in.

Inside, the club was jam-packed with people. The entire place had an industrial feel, with large steel beams crisscrossing the ceiling and low levels of green and blue lights interchanging.

Pulling out her phone, she finished the quick hack into their security cameras - she wouldn't risk messing with them (both for her safety and the clubber's); however, she could use it to avoid having her face seen. Walking over to the far right of the bar, where there was a camera blind spot, she sat up on the high barstool. While waiting for the bartender to make his way over, she searched through the different crisscrossing wireless signals until she found the one that was underneath both the other signals and the club itself (well, beneath the old steel factory, but since it was attached to the club Felicity counted it in.) That would probably be the Vigilante HQ (Arrow cave? Quiver?)

"What can I get for you?" The bartender stepped over, wiping a rag across the metal countertop.

"Mai tai?" Felicity asked, sliding across her (fake) ID.

"Will do, Miss Matthews.”

As he made her her drink, Felicity began digging further into the wireless signal to see if there was anything worth finding behind the firewalls and proxies. Overall, the security was okay (it would keep out piddly hackers and bored teens); but, like most things, it was no match for her hacking abilities.

Whatever system they were using was archaic - 80's at best - and she could tell what ever coding they had was top dollar. Though, that meant it was bought (legal or not) and whoever was the coder didn't care about the system in a way that would allow the best protection - the firewalls and security were too cookie-cutter. Of course, that meant that whoever was involved in this whole green-leather-and-arrows scheme was probably not computer savant. Which meant they wouldn't notice her poking around in their system.

She'd managed to down two of the Mai Tais in the time it took her to properly root through their system and see what they'd been up to (it was definitely multiple people).

There were searches currently running (like some high grade RSS feed) for several prominent business men (who were known crooks) and a few running on several of the local crime bosses. There was even a recent search for her name - which would frighten her, but she knew exactly what they would find - nothing. She'd made sure anyone researching her would only find what she wanted them to find.

Deciding she'd done enough sleuthing for one night, she began erasing traces of herself in the system. It wasn't until she was almost completely out that she saw something that caught her eye. Her own coding.

More specifically the coding that she'd hand delivered to Oliver just this morning.

_ Frack. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter up, sorry it took so long, haha. 
> 
> As usual, shoot me a comment of kudos and let me know what you think! 
> 
> Next chapter's almost done and will be posted next Sunday. :)


	5. I'm Smoak. Felicity Smoak.

Felicity felt like her stomach had dropped. She had only experienced this feeling once before - when the FBI had arrived and arrested Cooper. Of course, this time around there was also a heavy dose of fear and queasiness present.

And that was because Oliver was involved somehow with the vigilante. Probably him and his bodyguard - which explained their behavior earlier. They were trying to dig for information. And Oliver had probably knocked those pens over in an attempt to make her use her powers (a poor attempt really because she’d managed to keep her ability secret for most of her life and some pens were _not_ gonna force her hand - no, that honor was left to a psycho archer.)

A psycho archer that Oliver and his mysterious bodyguard were in cahoots with.

_Cahoots_. God, her life was turning into a bad spy movie.

She reached over and downed the rest of her drink, setting the phone on the counter - the lines of coding seeming to mock her. There was no way she was wrong about this (no matter how much she might wish so).

She grabbed the phone and picked up where she left off, quickly closing out of the system and erasing any electronic footsteps. Throwing some money on the counter to cover the cost of her drinks, she quickly slid off the stool. She'd stayed longer than she wanted to already, and that was before she had figured out how big this went (Whoever this group was, they had ties in both a nightclub and a Fortune 500 company. This was the last sort of trouble she wanted to get involved in.)

"Miss Smoak?" A familiar voice called. She looked over and there he stood - the last sort of trouble she wanted to get involved in.

"Oliver," Felicity turned completely around, flashing him her best smile. Behind him stood his shadow, "And hello to you, Mister ..."

"Diggle." He answered, face serious.

"Mr. Diggle," Felicity nodded to him, "Fancy seeing you two here. Not that there's any reason you two shouldn't be here - it's a free country. And I'm sure you two enjoy a party as much as anyone else - not that you look like partiers, or like not-partiers. I guess. Uh, yeah. I'm just gonna go before I make a bigger fool of myself."

She slipped her phone into the pocket of her dress (yes, her dress had pockets, and they are awesome!) and stepped away from them - towards the exit. If there was one thing her mouth was good at it was buying time. (And wow, that sounded dirty even in her mind.)

"What a shame," Oliver smiled. Though, this one was different from the one in her office earlier - strained and obviously fake, “I was hoping I could buy you a drink. Maybe steal your attention for a little while.”

Felicity shook her head, “I've already had a few drinks, so I think I’m good. Anymore and I don’t think I’d be able to drive.”

She went to take another step, but he reached out and placed a hand on her elbow to keep her in place, “Well then, no drinks. But, I would still enjoy a quick chat. Especially since we’re outside of a formal setting.”

It was a shame, really. If she didn't know that Oliver was working for (with?) an insane archer group, Felicity would have agreed in a heartbeat. Despite being total strangers, she’d felt like she could trust him when he’d come into her office earlier. An instinct deep in the pit of her stomach had told her that he was _good_. Of course, apparently whatever instinct she had had was wrong because obviously, Oliver was not to be trusted.  Nope, not one bit. No matter how pretty his eyes were or how nice his arms looked where they peaked out from beneath the rolled up sleeves of his button-up. Not trusting. Nope.

“I actually, should really be going,” Felicity said, trying to tug her arm out to no avail.

“We’re going to have to disagree, Miss Smoak,” Oliver nodded to Diggle, who stepped around both of them to flank Felicity on her other side, resting his hand on her shoulder, “In fact, I’m going to have to ask that you come with us.”

Felicity tried to jerk away from him, but that only pushed her closer to Diggle, “I don’t suppose there’s any chance you’ll accept a polite, but firm, refusal?”

Oliver chuckled, dark and low, “No, I’m afraid not. You've attracted quite a bit of attention for yourself. We’re going to have to ask you a few questions.”

He tugged on her elbow while Diggle gave her a light push, both directing her towards a back corner of the club, past the curve of the long bar top and towards a little side hallway. No one else was back here, not party-goers or employees.

“You guys aren't going to like, _off_ me right?” Felicity asked, wondering if she should risk using her powers. While the club was jam-packed, the hallway was empty and if she managed to smash the two men against the wall (she wasn't sure if she’d even be able to do that - the heaviest thing she’d ever lifted was her 50 inch TV when she moved into her new apartment.) But, if she could just get away from them for a moment, she might be able to lose them in the crowd. Only then, she’d really have nowhere to go. They knew where she worked, which meant they knew where she lived. She’d have no form of shelter and she was pretty sure they’d probably be able to get to her before she was able to leave town.

“Only if you don’t cooperate,” Oliver answered, stepping up to the doorway and sliding a panel out of the way to punch in some numbers. The door popped open and Oliver placed a free hand on the doorway, turning to look back at Felicity, “But, you’re smart enough to cooperate. Right, Felicity?”

She nodded, escape plans slipping from her thoughts. His voice had gone deep with hidden threat, something (dark, scary, animalistic) flashing behind his eyes. And the way he'd said her name - emphasizing  each syllable - had sent a rough shiver up her spine.

Felicity knew she could make it out of this hallway no problem and out of the club easy enough, but the minute she made it to the street, away from everyone in the club and into the open he’d be on her. Him or his muscled friend or the psycho Robin Hood. While she’d learned to rely on her powers growing up, she wasn’t sure she had it in her to take down all these people.

Once they were through the door, she was led into a small room with nothing but a metal chair in the center. Oliver let go of her arm and went to lean against the wall in front of the chair. Behind her, Diggle continued to direct her to the chair, using the hand that was still on her shoulder to push her down into it. Instead of releasing her like she thought he would, he placed another hand on her other shoulder, effectively holding her down in place.

They stood in heavy silence for a moment before Oliver began to speak, “You’re probably wondering why we brought you here.”

“Well, yeah. Duh,” Felicity said, pursing her lips, “I haven’t done anything wrong. And this is kidnapping - it’s against the law.”

From behind her, she heard Diggle chuckle, vibrations running through his hands and into her shoulders. She turned to look at one and noticed Diggle had a ring that matched Oliver's on his hand that she hadn’t noticed before.

“Hadn't realized I’d told a joke,” Felicity muttered.

“You and I both know human laws don’t apply to either us,” Oliver pushed off from against the wall, coming to lean forward and face her, hands resting on his hips, sliding slightly into his front pocket, “But, since we’re on the subject of being law-breakers. Why don’t we talk about the number of ordinances and decrees you’re currently breaking.”

“I’m not breaking any laws,” Felicity shook her head. This wasn’t true, necessarily, since Felicity loved hacking into things in her spare time, “Human or otherwise?” She felt weird having to make the distinction. But, she figured she was dealing with some sort of cult thing (don’t drink the kool-aid) that she was going to have to talk her way out of (ha) - even if the cult included good-looking people.

Good looking people like the one currently staring her down.  Oliver leaned forward, setting his nose beside her temple. He took in a deep breath, tickling the tip of her ear.

"Definitely otherwise," He whispered, hot breath fanning out across the side of her cheek.

"Definitely creepy," Felicity shot back before she could stop herself. She tilted her head away from his, lips pressing together.

"Enough," Oliver pressed out, clearly beginning to lose patience, "No more procrastinating. No more lying. You will tell me what you are and who you work for. Who sent you to spy on me? What family --"

"No one sent me," Felicity interrupted, "And I'm no spy. I'm just an I.T. girl."

"The powers you used say otherwise. I.T girls can't send tables flying across the room."

Felicity scoffed, "How many I.T girls do you actually know? Maybe we have to take Telekinesis 101 in college."

"Maybe you should have taken Espionage 101." He retorted.

"And maybe you shouldn't be such a dick," Felicity said. Oliver raised an eyebrow at her and she could feel Diggle's hands tightened on her shoulders. She didn't let either deter her, "You don't know the first thing about my life or where I'm from," Felicity said, feeling a fire spread through her chest. How dare he accuse her of all these things? "I'm not a spy and I'm not here to spread whatever creepy cult secrets you and your friends might have. You don't know a single thing about me and I'd appreciate it if you didn't pretend you did."

"Felicity Smoak," Oliver began, face settling into a bland expression as if he was reading the phone book, "Age 21. Graduated MIT at age 19 - impressive. Employed at Queen Consolidated for a little over a year now. Employee ID number 010358428. Raised by a single mother - Donna Smoak, who is a natural blonde, unlike you."

He reached forward as twisted a lock of hair between his fingers, "Although blonde is a much better looking than that black you sported in college," He looked down, eyes dragging over her bright lips to look at her equally bright dress, "Brightness suits you."

"Just who are you exactly?" Felicity asked, tightening her lips and trying to go on the offensive, "How do you know so much about me? And how are you so connected to Queen Consolidated?"

"My full name is Oliver Queen," he said.

"That's not possible," Felicity protested, "the Queen family died out years ago when the last remaining heir died."

Everyone who'd been in Starling for more than a week knew the story of the last Queen Heir - a woman who'd barely become an adult brutally muttered by people who'd blamed the Queen name for past grievances. Her murder had become a bit of a local legend and how she died exactly varied from story to story, though most stories made it out as violent. No matter how she died though, the fact still remained that with her death, the Queen name had finally died out - leaving behind nothing but a legacy.

Oliver's hand tightened, his face settling into a tight grimace, "Her name was Thea. She was murdered by a coven of witches."

"Witches, really? And you would know because ...?" Felicity scoffed.

"I was there," Oliver answered.

"That would make you --"

"Several hundred years old," Oliver provided, "Although I'm not sure of my exact age - we didn't keep track of time quite the same. And, after the first few decades you learn that's not nearly as important."

"You're both insane," Felicity shook her head, shifting beneath Diggle's weight.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone's accused me of that," Oliver smiled. Only this time his smile was accompanied by two teeth elongating past his lip, sharpening out into little pointy tips, "I've been accused of a lot of things, actually."

Felicity sucked in a breath, her chest going cold, "Impossible."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day late, but I managed to break 2k words this chapter. :) 
> 
> I've written the end of the next chapter, haha. Hopefully I'll have it done next weekend. (It should mostly be the end of the conversation started this chapter. 
> 
> As always, feel free to leave a kudos/comment and let me know what you think!!! :)


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